1. Fabrication of Single Crystal Silicon Nanosurfaces
A. Sprunt & A. Slocum
Fracture fabrication of planar surface pairs with nanometer scale roughness or perfect complementarity whose separation can be precisely controlled.
Fabrication of an electrostatically actuated variable parallel plate capacitor with fractured silicon surfaces for electrodes.
Fabrication of parallel nanosurface pairs by anisotropic etching of (110) silicon wafers and the surrounding structure necessary to precisely control the separation of those surfaces.
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10

2. Two-Stage Device
KOH-align and notch
Experimented with different specimen orientations, specimen thicknesses, and notching techniques.
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10

3. Fracture Surfaces CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10
1) Completed experiments on differnt types of specimen notching techniques. Notching across the full width of the specimen with KOH produces the best surfaces. For images, see "knowledge nugget" and accompanying slides. 2) Determined that thinner specimens produce superior surface finish. By using a thinner specimen, the portion of the fracture surface produced when the crack is moving unacceptably quickly is effectively removed. Again, see "knowledge nugget" and accompanying slides for images. 3) Fractured specimens oriented on both the (110) and (100) crystal planes and determined the (110) specimens are superior.
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10

4. Variable Capacitor
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10

5. Predicted Performance & Fabrication
Native oxide thickness: 4 nm
Minimum stable gap: 4 nm
Capacitor Voltage: 1 V
Native Oxide Thickness
Composite micrograph of process development device released in air.
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10

6. Timeline Fractured flexure only at specimen Sept 2002
FIB notching experiments
Oct 2002
Two-Stage Device
March 2003
KOH notching experiments
Nov 2003
First Variable Capacitor Devices
July 2004
CBA 2004 Site Visit - June 10